Amazon fulfillment center in Middletown officially open

Employees made their first shipment Wednesday to a customer in Wisconsin.

Kim Manahan

Amazon's new Middletown facility is officially open for business.

Employees at the new fulfillment center shipped their first package Oct. 10 to a customer in Wisconsin.

The package contained Season 11 of American Idol Hits by Philip Phillips, said account supervisor Laurie Duffy.

So far, the fulfillment center employs 330 people and is gearing up to hire more employees for the holiday season.

Employees began gradually reporting to work a few weeks ago, Duffy said.

She said with the holiday season just around the corner, that they will be kicking in to high gear.

The retailer made the $90 million investment in Middletown official in February after its real estate developer settled on the land.

The new fulfillment center is located in the MOT Park.

Construction began on the 1.2 million square-foot building in February after a groundbreaking ceremony.

The web-based retail company began accepting applications for employment over the summer, and at full capacity will employ more than 850 full-time employees.

More than an additional 2,000 temporary, seasonal employees will be hired twice a year.

A $4 million grant of federal and state funds was awarded to the project in December 2011 to extend Merrimack and Industrial drives to allow for major access to the 76-acre property just west of U.S. Route 301.

Amazon has a second facility in Delaware located in New Castle, which is about only 20 percent of the size of the new Middletown fulfillment center.

A 10 year real estate tax abatement was given to Amazon by the town of Middletown early on in the planning phase, a decision that Middletown Mayor Ken Branner called a no-brainer.

"This project is a win-win all around, for the town of Middletown and the state of Delaware," Branner said last year. "The new jobs will be a jump start to our economy and bring additional employment growth to our area."

Amazon.com, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995.